Moon of Madness
by Peeta Melark
Summary: With Bianca back from the dead, Thalia doesn't quite know what to do. For the past few years, she has seen herself as Nico's sister and now this has been changed. She also must deal with sharing a soul with the very girl in question. Nico and Derek are now seventeen and the camp is thrown into turmoil by a strange illness that robs campers of their sanity, and a witch is to blame.
1. Chapter 1

I never thought that Nico di Angelo could be like a brother to me. I thought he could be _annoying_, but not a brother. And he was always yelling at me too. He treated me like I was the only thing that kept Bianca dead. Then, three years ago, everything changed. Nico met some boy named Derek and fell in love… I didn't expect that either. He began to look up to me like a big sister. I'd never had a chance to be a big sister. My little brother had disappeared at two! When Nico started talking to me and opening up his heart, I was overjoyed. All I'd wanted for the longest time was a brother, and now I had one.

Three years later, I still cared for Nico more than I even cared for myself. I watched him grow from ten to fourteen to _seventeen_ in what felt like several _days_. His face never tanned, his cheekbones became very prominent and his eyes filled with knowledge. By the time he was seventeen I still looked like I was fifteen. Soon, he looked like my _older_ brother—even though we weren't siblings at all! Derek grew up too, and Percy and Annabeth. They turned twenty in no time at all. Sometimes I found myself wondering what would have happened had _I_ been the child of the prophecy. I'd have let my love for Luke blind me. I knew that. He was too much like family, too much like the brother I'd lost. Sometimes, I was glad to still look fifteen but be immortal in mind.

"Hey, Thalia." I turned to see Nico standing behind me. He'd grown so much. It seemed that just yesterday he was that round-faced boy we rescued from a terrible school. Now he was tall and lean. His face was no longer round but thin with prominent cheekbones and deep, dark eyes. His features had lost most of the femininity that had lingered even when he was fourteen and he had really matured. Three years later he was still with Derek. For some reason, I was surprised. I'd never expected their relationship to last. They were too young to fall in love then! I figured they'd turn sixteen and find new people to fall in love with.

"Hey, Nico," I said sadly. He tilted his head curiously.

"You okay?" he asked. I didn't move. Finally, I shrugged.

"Just thinking. I never expected you and Derek to last this long."

He looked offended. "Why not?" I shrugged again.

"I don't know…" I admitted. "I guess… I thought you were too immature. But you've both grown so much. Do you think you'll get married?"

The hurt left his eyes and he laughed. He'd developed the most heart-warming laugh. It wasn't one that you'd expect from the son of Death. I was glad to hear it, glad to have him as my adoptive little brother. "I don't know!" he chuckled. "You're really turning into the nosy big sister, aren't you?"

"I suppose so," I agreed. "I just… It's funny watching you grow up. I still feel like I need to take care of you!"

He looks at me for a moment, seeming distant and pensive. "Maybe we will get married," he mused. "Derek and I. It's legal now in New York!"

"Not planning a wedding are you?" Derek said. I hadn't noticed him sneak up behind and sit next to Nico. Now he was leaning his head on Nico's shoulder, smiling contentedly. It was hard to imagine that he'd ever been that immature fourteen-year old who risked his life to save Nico.

"Actually, we are!" Nico joked. "But I'm warning you; I still can't sing."

He was lying. He could sing very well. He was just modest and he had a few self-esteem issues. He could play piano as well! Sometimes, if he'd had a particularly bad day, he would sit in his cabin and play. We would all stand outside and listen to his melancholy music.

"That's okay," Derek said. "I know you _can_ sing and I don't really mind. What color are the flowers going to be?"

"Black," Nico said without pause. "And red. I like black and red."

"Reverse the order you say that and we'll talk about music."

"Red and black?" Nico asked, realizing what Derek was saying only too late. He laughed. "We're _not_ going to sing a song from _Les Mis_… too depressing. And I'm not a soprano."

I sighed. They were kind of adorable. In a way, Derek was kind of a brother-in-law to me now. I hadn't really liked him at first. I had found him annoying and loud. He was always singing and he didn't know when to shut up. Then I saw how funny he could be, and how happy he made Nico. Heck, he even made _Clarisse_ smile!

"I love you!" Derek said, wrapping his arms around my waist. I glared at him.

"No you don't."

"I so do!" he whined. "You just don't _appreciate _me!"

"Maybe _you_ just don't act like you're seventeen!" said Annabeth, poking him in the ribs. I hadn't realized that she and Percy were watching us either. It just wasn't my day, was it?

"Well you two don't act like you're twenty!" Derek shot back, laughing. Annabeth shoved him and he toppled over, bringing Nico down with him. For a moment, they just lay there, dazed and giggling. Then Nico got up and helped Derek to his feet. It amazed me how tall they'd gotten. Nico was six foot two (thanks to his father's height) and Derek was exactly six feet! His face had matured too. Instead of being round and child-like, it was heart-shaped and handsome. He and Nico were really made for each other.

"We so do!" Percy laughed. "I mean, what's more grown up than _this_?" he pointed to himself.

I looked across the clearing to where a dark haired girl around my own age was sitting. It was Bianca. We shared a soul now, but even so she liked to hand around in her father's palace. She had spent so long among the dead that she hardly knew what it was like to be alive. Artemis had allowed her to age until she was fifteen, like me, then she stopped aging again. By then, Nico was seventeen and her _older_ brother. Bianca wasn't used to that, I could tell, and she kept trying to ruffle his hair or pinch his cheeks. He took it with a patience I had never seen before in my life, allowing her to play the part of the older sister and allowing her to baby him. Sometimes, I think he even liked being the little brother again.

Bianca looked up from her lap and smiled, moving as if she were going to stand. Then she stopped and looked back down at the ground. I didn't go to her, knowing she was in one of the melancholy moods that came with being dead for so long. Heck, I'd seen enough _Buffy_ with Derek to know that resurrection was tough.

"Who wants something to drink?" I asked. "I'm about to _die_ of thirst."

Nico raised his hand, grinning. "I'll have some iced tea, if you're willing to get it!" he laughed. Derek shook his head.

"Think I'll pass on the iced tea," he said. "I'll go with you and get some water, though."

I nodded. "Let's go, then."

As we made our way to the dining pavilion, I turned to him. I tried to look as serious as possible when I addressed him.

"Are you _sure_ you love Nico?"I asked. He looked at me, taken aback.

"Yes…" He hesitated. "Why are you—?"

"You'd never hurt him, right? You'll always be fair and kind and you'll never upset him, yeah?"

"Yeah, I don't—" He stopped. "I had this _exact _conversation with Percy three years ago!" he exclaimed. "I'd _never_ do anything to harm Nico in any way."

I nodded again, satisfied with his answers, and ran the rest of the way to the pavilion, Derek following closely behind.

**A/N: It's been a while, I know, but I didn't really have inspiration. Here goes with a new story. I'm keeping the Derek/Nico, even though I've gotten a ****_million_**** complaints about them. If you all don't know what I'm talking about, check out the reviews for ****_Death's Son_****. Sereiously, it's 2013. If people have an issue with two guys being a couple, then don't read this. I'm actually trying to make this a semi-****_realistic_**** story, which would be really tough without LGBT characters. So if you don't like it, then don't read. Nico, even when I read the books, seemed like that character. If you agree, you can acknowledge that**

**That aside, DionaEnvis, if you're reading this, you can create a ****_detailed_****, ****_realistic_**** OC for my story! **


	2. Chapter 2

The next day, something was wrong. It wasn't blaring at first. Then I started to see the signs. There were empty seats at every table, empty looks on at least twenty faces, and untouched food on several plates. It was unusual. It wasn't like _every_ camper ate their breakfast _every_ day, but there weren't usually so many absences… and there weren't usually Hunters missing from our table. And there weren't usually absences at the Ares table either! In fact, there were only _two_ Ares campers sitting there at all! One was a boy with short blond hair and a brutish face; the other was a girl with brown curls and soft, yet somehow threatening eyes. She was wearing a grey tank top, revealing a nasty scar on her upper-left arm. When she saw me looking at her, she gave a small nod of acknowledgement. I nodded back and looked at my hands.

As soon as I was done with my own breakfast, I went to look for my friends. Derek and Nico were, as usual, discussing their parents while sharing tiny, shy kisses. Of course, they had a hidden troupe of Aphrodite girls watching and placing bets on when they're getting married.

"I'd bet," said Lacey, "that they'll be married in three years, when they're twenty!"

"No, silly!" giggled Joanne. "It'll be when they're twenty-one!"

"You're both airheads!" Liam (the only boy in the group) chided. "They'll get married whenever the hell they want to. You should stop butting into their personal lives and go get lives of your own. Our job is to support love, not stalk it half to death."

Then his head snapped to the side, as if he'd been struck, and his hand flew to his cheek. He looked startled and hurt. Lacey's eyes widened.

"Liam?" she said. "Liam, are you all right?"

Liam shook his head, covering his ears against things I couldn't hear. No one but him could hear them. Even as I listened as hard as I could, I heard nothing like what he must have been hearing. He must have been hearing a thousand, whispering voices because he kept murmuring "no, no, no, no, no!"

"Liam!" I said, running over and grabbing his arm. The girl from the Ares table was there too. "Liam, listen to me. Look at me. We're taking you to the infirmary. You're sick and you need to get better, okay?"

He shook his head again. "You're going to hurt me! You're not real!" he cried. The girl next to me tightened her grip on his arm, making him cry out.

"Stop," she commanded. She had a thick, English accent. "Come with us. You're _very_ ill."

Suddenly, he stopped struggling. His eyes went blank. Fortunately, he was still breathing.

"Here," I handed him over to the girl. "Get him to Chiron and meet me back here." She hesitated. "_Quickly_."

It was twenty minutes before she returned. There was a bruise already forming on her cheek and her eyes were practically _glowing_ with anger. When she reached me, she stopped.

"Who are you?" she asked, "that you think you can give me orders and—"

"Shut up," I said. "What's your name?"

"Savannah," she answered. "Savannah Richar—"

"Shut up, Savannah." She did. "What's wrong with him?"

She sighed, shifting her weight onto one foot and crossing her arms. Somehow, I had managed to piss her off in less than half a minute. Her reply was short and blunt.

"Find out on your own time," she snapped, turning to walk away. I stopped her.

"Are you okay?" I asked. She opened her mouth and shut it again. I could see tears in her eyes. She was definitely _not_ okay. Right when I'd had enough and was turning to go, she said softly,

"You're Thalia, aren't you? Pretty name." She laughed breathily, her full mouth stretching in a smile. Then she pounced, asking a million questions that I could hardly keep up with her. She was a lot less frightening now that she wasn't scowling. In fact, I found her quite pleasant! When she smiled, her whole face lit up like a torch! But through it all, she seemed rather pale, like she hadn't slept in days. She asked in hushed tones about the Hunters, our lives, our deaths—did we really not get sick? Who were we? Did we date each other? Laughingly, I answered with an affirmative to that one.

"You do?" she asked. I nodded.

"Well only if we want to. Some of us would do the guy dating, but we're just not allowed."

"Oh," she smiled tiredly. "I hope that guy is okay. Poor Liam. And the thing is, he's very nice, never intrudes on peoples' lives."

"Which is a first for that cabin," I said. But it was true. Liam was the kind of guy who couldn't ask a girl to dance because he kept lapsing into different languages or mixing up his words. He was the kind of person who didn't pry, just offered what little advice he could when he could and kept a fairly low profile. He wasn't all out there like the rest of the boys in his cabin, but he wasn't necessarily a shut-in. He was nice.

"Yeah," Savannah agreed. "You're absolutely right. So… You doing anything later?"

I looked at her abruptly and she laughed.

"Oh, don't look at me like that!" she cried. "There's a camp sing-along. I thought you might be interested in singing a duet or something."

"Oh." I fumbled for words. "I'd be perfectly willing. I, uh, don't usually go to these, but sure." As I was about to walk away, the thought struck me. "Would you care to join the Hunters of Artemis?"

She smiled. "I'll sleep on it… bring you an answer in a couple of days."

I nodded. Good. I'd made a new friend, and she was powerful. I wondered if she had any special talents—other than scaring the living daylights out of people—and if I might find out her strengths and weaknesses sometime. But for some reason, it was nice to have a friend… one that was just mine.

**To anyone who actually reads this story: Thanks! I hope you like it. I do my best to check my writing for spelling, grammar and plot holes to make them more pleasant to the human eye and mind. There's nothing worse than a story written entirely in chat language and riddled with so many commas that could've been dictated by William Shatner (though I really like his acting).**


	3. Chapter 3

The karaoke night would have been torture if Derek, Nico, Annabeth and a girl named Lizzie hadn't taken over the performances. Derek and Nico sang a lot of show tunes, often with Nico looking at Derek for his lyrics. It struck me that Derek had a history in theatre, what with his mother being in a lot of musicals. She still was, as far as I knew. Derek himself had started auditioning for things. The summer of his sixteenth birthday, he landed a small role in a local show. It wasn't too far from Camp, and his mother was proud to see him perform. At seventeen, he was a little more focused on his fighting than his dancing. But he still took ballet, jazz and modern dance with Lacey, Angelica (Apollo cabin) and a couple of guys from the Ares and Hephaestus cabins twice a week. Nico, though he'd been offered lessons, politely declined, telling me later that dance just wasn't his thing. Derek confessed to me that, when he tripped over his own feet at the dance three years ago, it had been more from nerves than from a lack of training.

One song stuck with me the most. The lyrics were good and the melody was soft, and I liked that. It was… I don't know… different than my usual music.

_Long ago this song was sung to me  
Now it's just a distant melody_

I thought it was pretty, especially when Annabeth sang it in her beautiful light soprano.

"Hey, Thalia, what're you thinking?" Derek asked as we filed out onto the grass. I shrugged.

"Nothing." I was thinking about that kid from earlier. Liam? "I'm just tired, and I—"

Derek cut in, placing a hand on my arm. "I heard about earlier," he said. Smiling, I thought to myself that he was very kind. I was glad he could be there for Nico. He continued. "And I know how you're feeling about Bianca."

My head whipped around and I glared at him. "_What_?"

He was unsurprised and unafraid as he said, "I'm a little lost too. I don't know why she's allowed to be back or why your soul sharing doesn't work the same way as Nico's and mine did—"

"Because we're not a couple—"

"—and I get that you're feeling left out. But Nico's been grieving for her for…" His eyes rolled up slightly as he thought and he made a slight humming noise. "Well, it was four years when she got back, wasn't it? We were fourteen. But after that short while on Olympus, you remember how out of it she was. She only really just got with the being alive program a couple of months ago. So it's understandable that Nico's missed her. But I totally get what you're feeling. In a boyfriend-y kind of way. You're more of a sister to him. Though he did admit to having a small crush on you…"

"What? When?"

"When he was twelve, for about two minutes. Then he thought you reminded him of Bianca, and there went that idea."

"I'm also a girl," I said bluntly.

"Hey!" Nico yelled, running up behind me. "I heard that! Derek, you're gonna die a slow, painful death. Probably locked in a jar."

Derek laughed, poking Nico in the ribs. "The only person that's been locked in a jar is _you_."

Nico glared. "Shut up."

I laughed. Nico and Derek were so cute together; even _I_ had to admit it. They were a balance, with Nico being dark and Derek light. Derek was day and Nico was night—not to be rhyme happy or anything. They just sort of were made for each other.

"And what was the stunt with the pomegranate seeds?"

"How do you know about that?"

"News flash, Nico; _everybody_ knows."

"Did you just quote at me?"

"What? No!" Derek paused, grinning. "Maybe."

Nico's eyes widened. "You did it again! You quoted at me!"

In a flash, he had snapped Derek's arm behind his back and thrown him to the ground. Derek looked genuinely surprised, and Nico didn't stop. As Derek was getting up, he swept his legs out from under him, causing him to fall again. It wasn't a bad fall. As far as I could tell, it was all in good fun! Both Derek and Nico were laughing, and within seconds they had started a sparring match in the middle of the clearing. Derek jumped and kicked at Nico, stopping right before his foot hit Nico's chest. Nico fell back, responding to the attack and retaliating with an elbow to the nose. Derek jerked his head away and said.

"Are we going to put on some armor, or are we just going to beat the crap out of each other?"

Nico shrugged. "Good point."

"What happened?" Percy said. Then he nodded. I did too. Nico and Derek had caught themselves in the middle of a cutesy argument. For them, that was a taboo. They weren't fond of displays of affection—or at least Nico wasn't. Derek respected that. But there was something else. The pressure to be, well, manly. Nico seemed to think that we didn't take him seriously, and he was always fighting to be better than everyone else. The truth was simple. If he fought well, nothing else mattered. And Nico was an _excellent_ fighter. He was fast and strong and smart, making him a great person to have on our side.

Nico got up, sweeping his hair back from his eyes and rubbing his elbow, which was scratched up from a fall. Derek stayed where he was, seated on the grass, checking a small scrape on his knee with a grimace.

"Could've been worse," he said, standing and brushing off his clothes. "I'm gonna get to bed, Nico, and you should too. See you tomorrow!"

He gave Nico a brief hug and ran off in the direction of his cabin. As I turned to say goodnight to Nico, I noticed that he wasn't looking at me anymore. He was staring off into the distance with wide, frightened eyes. Before anyone could reach him, he covered his ears and collapsed.

A/N

**Hello Readers!**

**Sorry it's ben a while… I hope you liked this chapter! It's been really fun to write. If any of you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them. **

**Thanks!**

**Peeta Melark**

**P.S. There's this really awesome author (actually my sister...) who recently uploaded a story! Here's the link... s/9738922/1/Snow-Angels ... so if you like "Les Mis," I would suggest it very much! She's got a really great writing style and the characters are really well assembled and portrayed. **


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